I've spent over 8 years with Salesforce in various management and individual contributor roles, all customer or partner facing. Some of the pros: - vibrant, fast paced culture - smart, fun, aggressive colleagues - management is focused on latest tech trends and staying or becoming a leader for many of them - by and large, customers and partners are very positive about the technology - good benefits and perqs - hip urban culture at HQ - a chart-your-own-course mentality that rewards those who aggressively seek out the job they want and pursue it, or sometimes even create it

Cons

After my long tenure and many Dreamforce conferences, I'm nearly fried. To say the culture is fast paced and the focus is always changing is an understatement. The reason Salesforce always seems on top, and chasing the latest trend, and in the press, is because employees are expected to run harder, carry more, cheer loudly, and pivot constantly. It's the world's biggest startup in behavior. But at the same time, with the recent influx of top career sales leaders from Oracle and what appears to be a board-level mandate for doubling revenue, employees are being asked to do even more with even less, fill higher quotas with smaller territories, less help, and the big company bureaucracy is rearing it's ugly head. Worse still is the politics. When you hire a bunch of smart, aggressive people, and put them in an environment of outsized expectations, throw in a bunch of re-orgs and changing management, and sprinkle with uncertainty and constantly changing priorities, you inevitably get people back stabbing each other and throwing others under the bus to appear smarter and more worthy of promotion. The few at the top will get very, very rich. The rest will lose the sense of personal ownership and start to wonder why they've given up health and family

Advice to Management

The further you get from the foundational vision of creating great products and ensuring customer success, and instead recruit big company people focused on ego and self-promotion and growing a fiefdom, the more Salesforce starts to become just another Oracle or SAP or Microsoft. My sense is, that's what the board wants. If so, so be it. There will be another innovative and passionate startup to disrupt salesforce some day soon.

Current Employee - Associate Member of Technical Staff, Quality Engineer in San Francisco, CA

Current Employee - Associate Member of Technical Staff, Quality Engineer in San Francisco, CA

I have been working at Salesforce full-time (Less than a year)

Recommends

Positive Outlook

Approves of CEO

Recommends

Positive Outlook

Approves of CEO

Pros

I had competitive offers from multiple companies, but I decided to go with Salesforce for a few reasons. What stuck out during the hiring process was: 1) I was a real person to Salesforce, and I really mattered. At another company in the Bay Area (which is widely considered to be *the* most prestigious company to work for... no specifics, but it's a search engine that starts with a G), I had an interviewer call me 1 hour late for an interview and 15 minutes late for the rescheduled interview, on top of telling me that their interview process was 6-8 weeks long and was totally inflexible. At Salesforce, on the other hand, every interview started right on the dot of the scheduled time and the hiring process was just under 3 weeks from beginning to end. I had to have special accommodations and stay an extra night after the interview due to a disability that makes it difficult to travel late at night, and they extended my hotel booking without any question. 2) All the employees are passionate about their work. This is because of a system called Open Opportunity Market where you are allowed to leave your team and join any other team with an open spot during releases. Basically, everyone does the job that they want and nobody is stuck in a role they hate. 3) Everyone is super friendly. My interviewers all asked me if I was comfortable, if I needed a break/anything to drink/a snack. Now that I'm here, I'm happy with the decision I made. I think my favorite thing about the company is that they are very open to change. Management really, really listens to what everyone wants, whether it's a change in development process or better snacks in the kitchen. The work/life balance is great - you can work remotely as often as you'd like and you can come in/leave whenever as long as you're productive. There's catered lunches all the time and a full-service coffee shop in the office. The parties are great (I was second row to see Metallica at a company party 2 weeks after I joined!) and the people are awesome.

Cons

The development process can be cumbersome. The build breaks very often, and grabbing one bad changelist that breaks an essential component of the build can totally nuke your productivity for a whole day. Onboarding time takes 3-6 months since there are so many moving parts and a lot of different languages involved in development. No parking at the offices in HQ since they're all in downtown San Francisco.

Advice to Management

Don't let the company culture escape us as the company grows. Don't add any extra bureaucracy, and definitely don't tone down the parties.

I joined Salesforce in late 2007 and spent five great years there. Great teamwork, teammates, and top leadership. The product was and is still great, exciting as it evolves rapidly, and is brilliant in how easy it is to setup and manage. There was tremendous opportunity and rewards as it grew.

Cons

It got big - even bigger now. Still has a great culture for a 10K+ employee company, but getting the Oracle leadership in on the sales side, although necessary for the size and time to grow, stifled the culture a bit.

You need to understand coming in that Salesforce only hires the best. This means if you're used to being the top of your department elsewhere, you still can be here, but it will take a lot more effort and perseverance! The staff is friendly and welcoming, the company is willing to invest lots of money into you from your first day to ensure that you have all of the comforts and material that you need in order to do your best work (including supplies, ergonomic desk furniture, refreshments, paid company iPhone, Top-line Macbook Air, cocktail hours and of course their Aloha theme).

Cons

The only con I can think of is that this would not be the place to enter if you are looking for a start up. Salesforce is one of the top 6 software companies in the world and it definitely shows. Many new faces appear in the halls every day (some of which are employees who have been there for years that I just haven't encountered yet). This is not necessarily a bad thing, but just something worth mentioning for anyone who expects the tech startup culture.

Advice to Management

Continue growing from within and promoting your hardest and most dedicated talent. Continue offering non-stop training and events catered to employees looking to expand their knowledge. Keep up the great work, Salesforce!

Everything moves really fast. If you have a good idea and can sell it and get it funded, you can get it done. Teammates have a spirit of wanting to help each other out to get the job done. Coming to work here is fun.

Cons

There are so many challenging projects to work on that it's sometimes hard to say no so you can find some work-life balance. High expectations to respond instantly even off hours.

Advice to Management

Focus on a high quality bar for hiring and keeping the culture strong. Continue to be transparent with employees about the business strategy and organizational changes.

-Huge emphasis on the importance of charitable giving and being environmentally sustainable (backed by 6 paid volunteer days per employee annually, $5000 annual employee match for charitable giving, frequent internal charitable events) -Prioritizes engaging employees by aligning personal career goals with each employee's duties and encouraging movement between functions and departments throughout the company -Incredibly intelligent workforce: Salesforce is able to use its strong brandname to hire only the top talent and as a result has an environment where you are constantly challenged and learning, which continuously develops your own skill set. (Less than 1% of applicants receive employment offers) -Strong community environment: Salesforce has been able to build a corporate family unlike any company I've been a part of before. People honestly care for each other and will go out of their way to look out for past and present employees. Salesforce focuses on working as a team rather than separate individuals which develops a sense of inclusion. -Incredible parties: Salesforce certainly caters to a more extroverted, lively and connected personality by having frequent social and networking events throughout the year -$100/mth employee fitness benefit and health benefits that are largely absorbed by the company. Free yoga classes and espresso bars are also offered in some offices -Offices are generally situated in the heart of cities rather than in suburbs

Cons

-Headcount growing perhaps too quickly which could transform the community feel to a more corporate environment -Does not offer full meals (light snacks and beverages are provided) -Signals of a more corporate future ahead evidenced by a shift away from local vendors to their global competitors

Advice to Management

Although we're growing quickly, make sure Salesforce is able to retain it's small community feel rather than becoming a rigid corporation like many older tech companies

Salesforce is a fast-paced, competitive employer who wants their employees to succeed. There is always something new to learn and a new goal to achieve to help keep you motivated. The people you are surrounded by are top performers and push you as well. I love being surrounded by innovative ideas and people who want to execute on them. The benefits are great too.

Cons

If you are not invested in your career then Salesforce is not the place for you. There is always something to learn and you still need to do your day job.

Truly one of the best companies in the world to work for. First class benefits, visionary leadership, crazy amount of snacks, drinks and beer(!) in the offices. Very flexible on working from home or remotely. Principal/Director level and above have no defined PTO plan (i.e. no limit).

Cons

Need to be more cohesive on product strategy. Still a feeling that if you're not at the mothership (in San Francisco) you miss out on a lot of opportunities and not totally a part of the company culture.

Advice to Management

Commonize the look and feel of applications across all clouds. Do more to make employees outside of San Francisco feel like they're not missing out on opportunities for advancement and fun stuff.